Round and round the merger talk goes, where she’ll stop nobody knows as a new report out of Bloomberg said Dish Networks approached Deutsche Telekom about possible T-Mobile USA merger. According to the report, Dish made their proposal sometime before April 10th and before Deutsche Telekom sweetened its offer for MetroPCS. According to “people familiar with the matter,” DT might consider Dish’s proposal after the MetroPCS transaction closes. Early analyst reports argue that a Dish acquisition of T-Mobile would likely be well received by regulators as any deal wouldn’t cut a major nationwide competitor.

The Bloomberg report does mention that DT would only consider the offer after “verifying that a separate deal with Sprint isn’t feasible.” As it stands, any deal between Sprint and T-Mobile would likely be attacked by regulators afraid of losing one of the top four carriers and the impact such a move would have on competition. Not to mention Sprint is already in the beginning stages of being purchased by Japanese giant Softbank.

Dish Network has recently announced it has a $10 billion cash stockpile, the largest such cash hoard in the cable industry. Such an amount makes a T-Mobile deal within reach, though that doesn’t mean it’s likely to happen. With the sweetened deal for MetroPCS, and the resulting blessing from the two loudest opponents of the earlier offer, T-Mobile’s future status remains once again, part of merger talks.

About David Beren

David is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of TmoNews.com. He considers himself a Jedi Knight, capable of leaping tall buildings in a single bound and a connoisseur of fine cell phones. He has been involved in the wireless industry since 2003 and has been known to swap out phones far too many times in any given year. Should you wish to contact him, you can do so: david@tmonews.com.

Old news is old. Accurate tho.. and DT shot them down. They hated the “Dish Influence” of Rob Strickland.. they sure as hell weren’t going to go further into the Abyss with Charlie Ergen.

IRIE4IPIEIR

It’s clear this bitch dressed in pink is still standing on the corner, and will sell herself to anyone that gets approved.

Anton Buynovskiy

LOL!

ianmoone

Yea, kinda like your mom…

IRIE4IPIEIR

You must be a Lil kid

ianmoone

You lacked originality.. so why should I do better in my reply to you? Go play in traffic…

IRIE4IPIEIR

I did something right, 9 people liked, and my comment it’s not only funny,but it’s also true, you butt hurt? I love T-Mobile, but it’s a fact DT wants out of the US market. I’m afraid Megenta won’t last long, hopefully that stupid iPhone helps.

ianmoone

Oh you’re probably right.. they may very well NOT last very long.

And all nine likes mean is that there’s a batch of sheep here who love to bag on T-Mobile.. When you think about it.. that kinda makes you Lil Bo Peep!

Anton Buynovskiy

Woah T-Mobile….. You want to take down AT&T and Verizon at the same time?

JustSaying

What kinda spectrum does Dish have? Is it nationwide? If they merged could T-Mobile offer cable? That would be kinda cool since I don’t have cable lol.

bleeew

Then they would compete with Verizon Fios and AT&T UVerse.

UMA_Fan

Doesnt DT need to stay in the US for 18 months anyway?

TMoFan

I don’t think a tie up between sprint and tmo would be received with such concern because two weaker competitors would be bulked up and in a much better position to take on the duopoly. That’s not to say there wouldn’t be any concern just not as much as the att sellout received and something the could be worked out through concessions. It was more against att, already huge, buying out a competitor known for being scrappy. This is all in the long term anyways. DT can’t sell their shares of Newco for 18 months and sprint has way too much going on to do anything else.

ny3ranger

I would love to see Dish T-Mobile and Sprint merge. Competition is good but the US is so big too many companies just cant cover the whole country with a robust network. But I still want to see 3 big companies. Two is a duopoly but there is no such thing as a “tripology” so consumers should still be protected.

21stNow

Consumers aren’t protected much now. Going from four to three major carriers would make it worse.

Guest

There is such thing as a “tripology” it’s called an oligopoly

spritemoney

There is such thing as a “tripology” it’s called an oligopoly. Similar to what the oil companies have.

Dion Mac

#Church!

Whiskers

Dish sucks no matter how much money they have , everything they touch turns to shit .
My wife worked for them and they are voted in the top three for worst business to work for.

Dion Mac

Well we, T-Mobile, is voted one of the worst companies in America. Its horse sh*t, but still!

Whiskers

But being voted is one thing , being an ex employee of that pathetic company you know the real truth.
There is a reason why they have a high turn over rate at Dish….

natedenver

I have been a happy and loyal Tmobile customer since 2004. If there is a merger with Dish I will leave immediately. I live in the Denver area and am very familiar with Dish Business practice. I have know a number of people who work there. They treat their emloyess badly, they lie to their customers. They overcharge many customers. I have heard first hand reports of their CSR’s getting written up for telling customers that they are paying for HD when they do not have a tV or in some variations a DVR that is capable of showing HD. This company is selling snake oil and All who go near them should beware.

natedenver

Does anyone know if there is a site up yet for petitions to DT to make sure they don’t merge with Dish?

Whiskers

+10000 ^^^^^^
My wife worked for Dish and everything they touch gets screwed up.
Not to mention how they shaft their employees out of their bonuses for selling extra channels and service.

Jared Wolfe

I used to work for Dish Network. I would have to agree with your statement above. Its a terrible company to work for. I left because I was treated so poorly. I’m not the only one, others have left for the exact same reason I did. .
Everyday I drive by Santa Fe and Bowles (major HQ office for Dish) here in Denver and I ALWAYS see a sign on the corner saying. “NOW HIRIING”. That sign hasn’t moved in over 4 years.
I love me some T-Mobile but I will be sick to my stomach if Dish and T-Mo come together. I don’t know what I will do. I cant stand AT&T or Verizon. I can only pray this deal doesn’t happen. I will go somewhere else with my business. I have been with T-Mobile now for over 3 years and never felt more proud to be a customer up until reading this rumor. SMH.

natedenver

My mother worked there and after two years she quit. She filed for unemployment claiming hostile work environment. Dish didn’t even bother to challenge Apparently it had happened and they had lost so many times, it wasn’t worth the time to fight it anymore.

Hubert Szustak

Yup, I am on the same boat. If they ever merge with Dish, I will end up leaving T-Mobile as well. Dish is just big no.

Audio

NO! Dish is the polar opposite of T-Mobile in terms of customer service and value. I hated my Dish service.

21stNow

Please, don’t let Dish touch any existing US carrier. They don’t know their elbow from their nose. Dish will keep their hands off of my cellular service.

S. Ali

Dish owns some very valuable spectrum. In fact Google and Dish were reported to try and acquire Clearwire to get Google Wireless running.

SouthernBlackNerd

If Google was trying to acquire Clearwire, then why did they sell their shares of Clearwire for a 450 MILLION DOLLAR LOSS?!?!?

Dish and Google were only rumored to working together. Also Dish has yet to make a bid to acquire Clearwire. Their current deal buys spectrum and 25%-49% of the company. They would still be the minority owner, but with the news that they went to DT, I believe Dish is giving up on Clearwire. Sprint is just too ingrained into clearwire. They own 51% of the company and right of first refusal. They would have to sign off on any deal. They may buy some leased spectrum from Clearwire, but Sprint will be getting the most valuable spectrum.

Dish’s spectrum is the opposite of valuable. No other carrier in the US( probably the world) is using the same frequency, which means speciality devices have to be made. Their 700Mhz spectrum is unpaired as well.

Prox

I have been saying this for ages. Google/Dish alliance partnering or buying T-Mobile. They utilize TMo 55,000 physical towers to deploy LTE. Google sells 1Gbs data that allows for Internet TV and Voice service into every home without digging cables for Google Fiber. Future of the in home TV is not under ground. It’s wireless streamed to a box in your house from a local tower.

Dion Mac

I like the google aspect of it, just not Dish. Horrible practices. I want no part of it.

SouthernBlackNerd

Only Clearwire has enough spectrum to deploy LTE to reach speeds of 1Gbps. Tmobile would need 120Mhz of free spectrum to reach 1Gbps.

Dion Mac

2Much2Soon! I personally think T-Mobile should have a seat, merger wise, after this Metro deal… at least for a year and a half to 2 years. That way, they can see how well(or not) the iphone helps the company and how well(or not) the uncarrier strategy works. Not to mention building up T-Mo’s LTE, converting/selling Metro’s Network. Just have a seat. Sh*t!

TechHog

I don’t like this. Dish might decide to restructure T-Mobile and change the plans…

Roger Sales

Everyone’s always saying tmobile and sprint, but I think tmobile and cricket/us cellular has more merit

While I think a Sprint/T-Mobile merger would be great for the combined company, it would face more regulatory opposition than T-Mobile buying all the regional carriers, especially the “Little 3”.

Any reason why DT might be looking to leave the US? I’d actually prefer DT to stay where it is.

rob

Yes, that’s who T-Mobile should of worked with first! Hasn’t Dish begged tmo for a joint venture since the AT&T merger days. Dish has a LOT of AWS spectrum. Imagine if some satellite data type of coverage was included. It would help solve the rural issue. A deal like this after the Metro merger would really have the other 3 starting to bite off their nails.

superg05

yeah it would solve issues beaming a signal to a base station instead of using landlines could work

SouthernBlackNerd

They own AWS-4 spectrum aka 2Ghz S-Band. Completely different from the AWS that Tmobile owns.

LOV3BAS3DCUBANO

Hmmm sounds good to me then we can eat up Cincinnati Bell and I wireless too, hurry up and get bigger T-Mobile

Eli

T-douche-metro.

DishyFishy

When T-Mobile goes public, could Dish use their cash to buy up a lot of stock to gain some control over T-Mobile USA? can that happen? Not sure how that works.

xmiro

Interesting. And a good proposition. You have 2 value leaders in their respective markets. Dish is known for going against the tide – Slingbox, Hopper DVR, lower pricing. A CEO that isn’t afraid to ruffle feathers. Dish also owns spectrum and T-Mobile needs more spectrum.

I can see Dish bundle T-Mobile with the TV service, offer home broadband via wireless with much better terms than Verizon or AT&T. Maybe even grow T-Mobile’s network in the more rural areas where it has a lot of customers.

My in-laws have had dish for 20 years or more and love it

Watching ..

This is a huge problem for T-Mobile customers !

Customer service will be horrible. Pricing will GO UP guaranteed. He will have to pay for the merger. So what choice will he have but to make the customer base PAY .. Big $$$$$$$

Charlie Ergen the majority shareholder and billionaire has little regard for anyone or anything other than his end goals. I.e. HIM ! Certainly not the customers.

Recently Dish was noted as the number one WORST company to work for. Search for that article.

All of us could write or petition, all the government agencies necessary for approval for the sale of TM to Dish. Trust me they listen. AT&T found that out !

Folks pay attention to this story, this could be a very bad result for all of loyal customers. Reason, Dish doesn’t care about loyalty. Just $$$ ! Just do a search for Dish complaints and you will more than see where Dish is coming from.

I’ll be watching !

Watching ..

This is a huge problem for T-Mobile customers !

Customer service will be horrible. Pricing will GO UP guaranteed. He will have to pay for the merger. So what choice will he have but to make the customer base PAY .. Big $$$$$$$

Charlie Ergen the majority shareholder and billionaire has little regard for anyone or anything other than his end goals. I.e. HIM ! Certainly not the customers.

Recently Dish was noted as the number one WORST company to work for. Search for that article.

All of us could write or petition, all the government agencies necessary for approval for the sale of TM to Dish. Trust me they listen. AT&T found that out !

Folks pay attention to this story, this could be a very bad result for all of loyal customers. Reason, Dish doesn’t care about loyalty. Just $$$ ! Just do a search for Dish complaints and you will more than see where Dish is coming from.

Good , let that nightmare of Hell belong to Sprint.
Dish will screw that up as well and T-Mobile will move up into 3rd place while watching Dish destroy Sprint with their bad business decisions and horrible CS.

Steve Park

Don’t think we have to worry about this. WSJ reporting today that Dish is offering $25.5 Billion to buy Sprint….a marriage made in hell if there ever was one.

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